Wrong message: Coarse correction

Saturday

IT'S GOOD that the billboards blasting Mitsubishi will finally be coming down.

However, it would have been better if the local building trades hadn't put up their coarse message in the first place.

The local trades people have a legitimate concern - local companies with workers who are well-trained, insured and bonded aren't getting hired for large construction jobs here, like the new $325 million Mitsubishi plant that's rising on the state-owned mega site in West Chatham.

Instead, out-of-town workers are picking up the work and the meal tickets. In today's painful times for the construction industry here and elsewhere, that's like pouring salt in a wound.

The Savannah and Southeast Georgia Building and Construction Trades Association board decided to remove their roadside distractions, which showed a sinking battleship with a U.S. flag and the words "Mitsubishi torpedoes local contractors and workers," after meeting with the top two officers of the Savannah Economic Development Authority and Chatham County Commission Chairman Pete Liakakis.

Credit Mr. Liakakis for setting up the meeting and trying to improve communications.

It's reassuring to know that Vince Drescher, president of the building trades, doesn't want to hurt the community in any way by driving valued businesses like Mitsubishi away. That would sink everyone's future.

Tony Edgerly, assistant business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 508, had indicated that the billboard was intended to address hiring procedures.

That's an obvious sore point. However, some options are limited.

On local government projects, such as new public schools or a new jail, local elected officials have leeway when it comes to determining the amount of work that local companies get. However, they still have an obligation to be wise stewards of public dollars and not pay inflated prices.

But on private construction jobs, a company has the right to hire whatever contractor it pleases. It's up to local workers to prove that they're the right workers for the project when it comes to quality, reliability and cost.

It's tough to mess with the law of supply and demand - too many tradesmen chasing too few construction jobs. And it's not just the case in this area. It's elsewhere in the Southeast, too.

Thus the goal should be to woo more companies like Mitsubishi to Savannah, which creates construction jobs, while convincing the general contractors to hire local workers to help build these new plants.

Mitsubishi will be a wonderful corporate citizen. The good-paying jobs it will provide will support local families and businesses..

The building trades erred by making it appear in their billboards that Mitsubishi was the enemy. The war-themed image emphasized their message, which was wrong.

Mitsubishi was never the enemy. The sour economy is. The goal should be turning things around, not turning companies away.

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